Lionbackers.com

After a two year absence, the dance team for the BC Lions have returned for 2022 but in a different way and it could be either for the better for many others would say it's for the worse.

1. Male dancers are allowed to try out for the team.
2. As such, they are no longer called the Felions but rather, the generic and plain BC Lions Dance Team.

https://globalnews.ca/video/rd/6ceeb5b6 ... wsource=cl

It looks like in this day of political corrections, things like this would finally occur.

The same thing has happened in the NFL. The Seahawks used to be called the Sea Gals but when men joined the team in 2019, they were then called the Seahawks Dancers. For the longest time, only the Baltimore Ravens had men for their cheer/dance team. But now, there are now eight NFL teams that have co-ed squads:

Baltimore Ravens
Seattle Seahawks
Indianapolis Colts
Philadelphia Eagles
New Orleans Saints
Los Angeles Rams
Tennessee Titans
New England Patriots

I suppose have male squad members are still better than the seven NFL teams that don't cheer/dance squads: Buffalo Bills, Chicago Bears, Cleveland Browns, Green Bay Packers, New York Giants, Los Angeles Chargers, and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Going back to the CFL, several other CFL teams have male squad members as well.

Finally, I'm posting this on April 1. Is this an April fool? No.

One last point. With men joining the squad, and if there's going to be a 2022 calendar as shown below with past calendars, will they contain men? I guess in the end it's a business and sales are the most important issue and I think typical market research will show that it's the men who will buy such calendars, and women are simply not attracted to male dance members are unlikely to buy a calendar featuring them so therefore, adding men into the calendar will likely result in a decline in sales.

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Well unfortunately the BC Lions dance team has been little more than afterthought for me for years. It's an opportunity for individuals to advance their career aspirations but they also do so for a pittance. And if I recall, they were coed for a brief time back in the early 90's. The pendulum has swung away and back again.

So I am ok with the change. Why does it need to be an all female dance team? So that it's eye candy for guys to oggle over? Having women dress and or dance provocatively for a male attendance is antiquated thing (especially with attendances no longer being overwhelmingly male). It should be a dance team that is entertaining, full stop, regardless of their gender.

Another industry that has seen this change is IT/Computer and Gaming conventions. All the booths/displays before the beginning of the 2010s used to have "booth babes". Quite literally pretty girls to attract the attention of the nearly entirely male attendees. The world has changed, old school gender norms are no longer a thing (wife stays at home, man works). The IT and gaming world is rife full of women and using booth babes became an outdated trend.

Sir Purrcival wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 01, 2022 10:42 pm

And if I recall, they were coed for a brief time back in the early 90's.

That was in the 1990 season and that's when it was considered a cheer team before in the early 2000's there was both a cheer and dance team, before it became an exclusive dance team. I suppose in the 1990 rebuilding season with new GM Joe Kapp, the entire team was rebuilt and that included a new approach to the then-cheerleaders and they welcomed men as well. You can see them in the background of this clip from this game in the 1990.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4369knSl7U

And the reason I remember that is that I knew one of the female members of the team and she was complaining that they all had to change in the same room. No privacy. Can you imagine that happening today? Wouldn't fly and when you consider the size of a place like BC Place, you have a hard time trying to understand how it was that they couldn't find two spaces for members of the opposite sex to get ready for the games. The female members of the squad weren't happy about it and described having to more or less have members hold up towels in a corner of the room while other members got into their outfits.

It’s absolute garbage that males can try out for the team. Hopefully none of them make it!!

I may be old school, but I believe cheerleaders should be traditionally feminine; attractive young ladies holding pom poms, doing amazing dances.
It’s not demeaning to women at all, quite the contrary.
Besides, the “Felions” is an amazing name. They should keep it that way.

Two updates:

#1. The BC Lions Dance Team now has a new nickname - changed from Felions to UPROAR.

#2. The UPROAR consists of 36 members and it looks like only 5 of them are men.

So I guess a distribution of 31 women and 5 men is good, but it was still enough to change the nickname. I suppose like all name changes, it has to do with political correctness.

https://www.bclions.com/danceteam/

Nope, don’t like it. I remember going to a game at Commonwealth Stadium over 20 years ago and they had males on the cheers squad. It’s just not the same.

Political correctness takes its toll again. You can call me a chauvinist or anything else you like. I call myself a lover of the female form.

Just to summarize the presence of men in the cheer and dance teams among the nine CFL teams.


BC Lions - UPROAR Dance Team
36 members, consisting of 31 women and 5 men.

https://www.bclions.com/danceteam/


Edmonton Elks - Elks Cheer Team (Dance Team + Stunt Team)
The cheer team consists of a separate dance team and stunt team.

The dance team consists of 20 women.
The stunt team consists fo 28 members comprised of 10 women and 18 men.
So overall, there are 48 members, consisting of 30 women and 18 men.

https://www.goelks.com/2022/02/16/2022- ... am-reveal/


Calgary Stampeders - Outriders
18 women.
https://www.stampeders.com/outriders/


Saskatchewan Rourghriders - 620 CKRM Rider Cheer Team
14 women.
https://www.riderville.com/620-ckrm-rider-cheer-team/


Winnipeg Blue Bombers - Blue Bomber Cheer and Dance Team
Site doesn't seem to have an updated cheer and dance section. But this recent social media posting shows the 2022 squad which shows 26 women and 3 men.




Hamilton Tiger-Cats - Dance & Cheer Team
14 women.



https://ticats.ca/dancecheerteam/


Toronto Argonauts - A-Team
Latest 2022 roster hasn't been updated, so using the 2019 team:



33 members, consisting of 21 women and 12 men.
https://www.argonauts.ca/a-team/


Ottawa Redblacks - Redblacks Cheer and Dance Team
17 women.



https://www.ottawaredblacks.com/cheer-a ... auditions/


Montreal Alouettes - Alouettes Cheerleaders
24 members, consisting of 21 women and 3 men.

https://en.montrealalouettes.com/alouet ... erleaders/

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So to summarize.....

The most politically correct (or incorrect) teams would be those from Ottawa, Hamilton, Saskatchewan, and Calgary which consist of exclusively women-only squads.

The teams from BC, Winnipeg, and Montreal are stuck in the middle with a handful of 3 to 5 men on the squad.

And the most politically incorrect (or correct) teams would be those from Edmonton with 18 men and Toronto with 12 men.

Not impressed with the name, composition of the team, uniforms and dance routine.

I think the change of name is to align with the use of "Roar" in the messaging.... there is "Roar Like Never Before"...... there is "Roary", the dance team mascot, and the dance squad is UpRoar..... Even the opening video had a kid doing a "ROAR" in it.... I expect that "Roaring" and "Rourking" will intersect sometime during the season as the marketing folks continue to gear up.

I defer to my seat mates opinions about the dance routines (was there more dance routines other than the 1/2 time ones??) as I wouldn't know an impressive dance routine if I saw it.... they thought they were good....

I'm not convinced that the change is due to political correctness, nor do I think that the gender composition of the squad is the determining factor in political correctness (or incorrectness).

Update and correction on my posting on the gender distribution.

Of the 36 Uproar members, there are actually 31 women and 5 men.

Checking out: https://www.bclions.com/danceteam/
There are 4 members who haven't posted their picture yet. I correctly assumed that Albert was a man, but not Sunny.

This is a recent article about the 5 men who made the cut:
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/bc-lion ... men-mascot

I think Roary is at least a very cool addition. Nice to see them try to make it more prominent dance presence

I thought the Dance Team was quite well put together and were very clean. Thought it was great to see such a strong cast of dancers together

Dancing is a profession now so excluding males makes little sense.

Not having qualified males is an anomaly nowadays if you look at performers backing up singers at concerts globally and at home.

There's a Netflix show on Canada's The Weeknd at Superbowl 2021 that is interesting for those who want to get into event management (another profession) as it starts with the design process and ends with the event.

It shows what the dancers (m and F) had to endure including learning the routines at home and rehearsals where they were on massive monitors at home being watched on Zoom calls.

There were three major problems:
1. Covid and N95 masks were required.
2. The field rehearsal for the 12 min was IIRC just one time on Thurs.
3. Some dancers got covid and had to drop out and some IIRC males who found out they weren't going to see the game who bailed out and had to be replaced.

This is a TV clip of a "high functioning" autistic male also from Tampa who is featured in the Netflix show on this entire process for the Superbowl who learned this at home and made the team:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGJ-DnPKENM

This is a TV clip of 4 male friends prepping at home:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS2MmmiJVmw